Tuesday, August 21, 2007

From other lands...

There's a great article in this week's New Yorker about hunting for matsutake mushroomsin the forests of Oregon. I knew mushroom hunting was a pretty high-stakes game, but I had no idea that Cambodians are the most fervent hunters or that they live in Gold Rush-style camps complete with prostitutes, gambling, karaoke and bowls of steaming pho-type soup.

I wish I could have gone to this dinner at New York's Gramercy Tavern with a tasting menu accompanied by aged beers, from NY Times writer Eric Asimov. I'll take the one that tastes like bananas foster, please.

And also in the New York Times, a fun piece on artsy restaurants in Beijingwith food from the provinces -- caterpillar fungus chicken soup, anyone?

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

I would have missed this interesting article had you not write about it. Thank you for that. I had no idea Japanese obsession with the piney mushroom had manifested itself in such a way on the other side of the Pacific. And I found the life of Kouy Loch even more fascinating. Kumer Rouge prison, resistance fight, having a foot blown by a land mine, obtaining asylum in the US, and now living the life of a modern day prospector in Oregon....

On the mushroom itself, I think it's overrated beyond any reason. It smells good and a nice thing to have every once in a while but not THAT great. If you really think about it, there are other things that taste far better than that.